Top 5 Security Industry Investors in Southeast Asia

Intro

Although nowadays, the world seems to be on the way to recovery from the disruptive pandemic and its consequences, the importance of various security services does not seem to decline. As many companies and establishments worldwide switched to remote working, the problem of privacy reemerged with a new severity. There is a constant demand for certain technologies of the Security industry, such as cloud security, protection of big data, automatized threat and fraud detection, etc. In addition, this sphere provides safety for people, premises, and property through many kinds of manned and technical services, and deals with homeland security.

As in many other regions globally, Southeast Asian investors are involved in the development of the Security industry. Five of them, featured on the diagram below, have been especially active over the last five years. In total, they invested 12 times and made up 0.2% of all funding rounds in the industry over the mentioned time. According to the number of times they participated, the top 5 VCs and corporate investors line up as follows:

Top 5 Security Industry Investors in Southeast Asia
data provided by Unicorn Nest

Key takeaways

• Funds Geography – Three of the five funds are based in Jakarta, Indonesia; the others are distributed equally between Parañaque (Vietnam) and Hanoi (Philippines), with each city hosting one VC. Only two firms from the sample prefer to provide financing for the projects from their country of origin; the rest of the funds do not show any geofocus in investment and tend to put money into startups from different countries.
• Industry Focus – The lion’s share of the financing is attracted by the startups in Finance, such as Indonesian projects Cermati or Amartha. Further on the industry focus list are E-Commerce Platforms, Business Development, and EdTech fields; some examples are TaniHub (Indonesia), TADA (Singapore), mai (the US), etc.
• Investments – Most commonly, the funds participate twice a year; sometimes, the annual number of rounds climbs up to 6.
• Typical Rounds – Usually, the listed VCs participate in the Early Stage of investments. Entering at the Seed and Late Stage is less regular among them. The sample does not represent any tendency regarding the number of partakers per round.

Generally, the most active financing of the Security industry in Southeast Asia originates from three countries: Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Most commonly, the investors’ attention is captured by the projects in Finance industry, with Business Development, EdTech, and E-Commerce Platforms following.